Gregor And The Prophecy Of Doom (Book VI)

Chapter 15

Gregor marveled at how much Luxa still looked like her old self. Sure, she was also a good 2 inches taller now, and sure, she was even more beautiful and slender than ever, her long white-blonde hair now trimmed so it only reached her ears, and then again, her stance of a queen was now exaggerated with every step she took, but that arrogant smile on her face, that way of looking down on anyone remotely close to her height, and that proud but graceful stance she held herself while she walked even though he could see she was very tired, they all told Gregor one thing: She may have changed her appearance, but deep down, Luxa hadn't changed one bit. And that was when she saw Gregor. He was sitting just a few feet from the doorway, and he could immediately see that mixture of wonder and pain in her eyes. It transformed her normally unsmiling face into one of emotional beauty, as they locked eyes with each other, neither one wanting to break the gaze.

But Ripred was a whole other story.

"Well well well," He said as he chortled in that ratty glutinous raspy voice of his, "look who it is, its Prince Gregor. Oh, or should I say, the Undead Warrior!" He slapped his tail on the floor with a crack cracking sound that reverberated around the room. He hadn't changed one bit, though he had certainly recovered from the last time Gregor had seen him. The scars and that mangled leg injury of his were a thing of the past, he was no different from the powerful scared war machine Gregor had known him to be. Though perhaps not that slightly bulging belly of his.

"It's good to see you too, Ripred," Gregor said with a smile despite of himself, "though I liked you better with that leg injury, makes you seem almost cute."

Ripred looked at him for a moment, and then started laughing his guts out.

"Is that a joke?" He said between cramps, "oh my god Gregor the overlander you should tell me the next time you make such a feeble attempt at humor and sarcasm, maybe we will all laugh out of politeness!"

"Shut up, Ripred." Luxa said, slapping the rat on the left flank, which put a grin on Gregor's face for the entire afternoon, but just made the rat laugh even harder.

The rat and Luxa were the last to arrive, and after the council muttered some inaudible but obviously furious statements to each other, the meeting to determine the fate of the Underland (again!), officially began.